Missing sidewalks confuse council members

Confused looks spread across the faces of the Basehor City Council members as they listened to City Administrator Carl Slaugh’s report about the Pinehurst South subdivision.

“How did they leave out the sidewalks?” asked council member Roger McDowell.

Slaugh explained to council members that construction of the Pinehurst South subdivision of Basehor was never fully completed, as work ceased before anyone put in the sidewalks. Some residents in the area, Slaugh said, were bringing the issue to the forefront with arguments both for and against the addition of sidewalks.

He told council members that the Homeowner’s Association decided it didn’t want to construct sidewalks at this point because such action would ruin finished landscaping. Council members and City Attorney Patrick Reavey agreed that allowing Pinehurst to remain without sidewalks was not an option.

“It was part of the plat for that subdivision, and we need to enforce that,” Reavey said.

Council member Jim Washington said that enforcement of subdivision agreements was a recurring problem, and that the city could not set a precedent for ignoring such agreements.

Money is expected to be the issue with the sidewalk construction. Slaugh explained to the council that once the homes were sold, it was technically the homeowners’ responsibility to pay for developments to the properties.

The future of Pinehurst’s streets is unclear, but the council is determined to prevent similar mishaps.

“From a city standpoint, we have staff that should have been on top of that,” McDowell said. “We will be hard pressed to go back and get the money for this project now, so we need to take the proper steps to make sure that we don’t get into this kind of situation again.”

The council plans to address the issue further at the Jan. 5 meeting.

Also at the meeting, council members:

• Approved, 5-0, amendments to the 2008 city budget for the Cedar Lakes Maintenance Fund. The budget was raised from $10,500 to $13,321.

• Approved, 5-0, to hold a public hearing on Jan. 5, 2009, to consider an amendment to the Transportation Development District agreement with Benchmark Management to add the 150th Intersection Project as an eligible expense.

• Approved, 5-0, a payment to CAS Construction LLC in the amount of $328,316.42 for completed work on the expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

• Approved, 5-0, a request by CAS Construction LLC to change the prices of the units in the contract for expanding the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The contract set the amounts at $32 for structural excavation, $28 for nonstructural excavation and $3 for chip and seal repair. The new prices are $18 for structural, $12 for nonstructural and $3 for chip and seal repair.

• Approved, 5-0, the renewal of a cereal malt beverage license for Casey’s General Store, 15541 Wolf Creek Pkwy. The store corrected the violations from its latest inspection.

• Approved, 5-0, the renewal of a retail liquor license for Shorty’s Liquor, 15510 State Ave., Suite 2. The store corrected the violations from its latest inspection.

• Approved, 5-0, the renewal of a drinking establishment license to Kelley’s Bar and Grill, 15540 State Ave. The establishment corrected most of its violations from its latest inspection.

• Tabled, 5-0, until the Jan. 5 meeting a recommendation to reimburse Leavenworth Country Public Works in the amount of $79,743.98 for a northbound turn lane at 158th Street and U.S. Highway 24-40 that was constructed in 2004 as part of Kansas Department of Transportation Project No. 52C-3708-01. The project was not closed out with KDOT, and the final invoice was not sent. An audit of KDOT projects revealed that the final payment had not been invoiced. KDOT sent the invoice to Leavenworth County, and it was then sent to Basehor for reimbursement.

• Approved, 5-0, a request from the Holy Angels Catholic Church for a grinder pump to be installed at the existing church building. Construction of the new church parking lot eliminated the septic system, so the pump is required to serve the current building. The pump will empty into the city sewer system.

• Approved, 5-0, the resignation of planning commission member John Flower.

• Approved, 5-0, a recommendation to change the authorization limits for the city administrator. The city administrator operates under the direction of the city council. Any changes to a construction project that exceed the dollar limit of authorization by the city administrator have to be approved by the city council during a regular meeting. The city administrator previously had a $2,500 authorization limit. Council increased that limit to $10,000.

• Mayor Chris Garcia and the Basehor City Council members wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and offer their deepest condolences to the Flower family, who is dealing with the loss of Diana Marie Flower.